Ongoing India tour one of toughest for SA: Duminy

Nagpur: Trailing the four-match Test series 0-1 after two games against India, South-African all-rounder Jean-Paul Duminy today said the ongoing cricket tour is proving to be one of the toughest and challenging series for the team.

The visitors won the T20 and the ODI rubber against India, but lost the first Test in Mohali by 108 runs in under three days. The Proteas batsmen also looked jittery against the Indian spinners in the second Test in Bengaluru though only a day’s play was possible before rain played spoilsport in the remaining drawn game.

“We always knew it (India tour) was going to be tough. This is right up there. We would be proud of the way we played up until now. We always knew that time would come when we would be challenged. How you come back from the challenge determines how good you are as a team and I am sure we will progress well,” Duminy told reporters here ahead of the third Test between starting November 25 at Vidarbha Cricket Association stadium here.

“I haven’t seen the pitch. But we are aware it will obviously turn,” he said.

Proteas spinners Simon Harmer and Imran Tahir operated for most part of the net session as SA looked to get over the errors they committed in the previous games. Duminy admitted that learning from their mistakes is the way forward.

“Guys have admitted that we have made a few errors, especially in the opening Test. We would like to rectify it moving forward. There is no point trying to be naive. It’s about facing the problem and having a game plan against it,” Duminy said.

“We are proud that we never buckled down despite the challenging conditions. Winning a series will be a tough task from here but we are sure we can do it,” he added.
(Reopens SPB 15)

Led by Hashim Amla, the Proteas had their practice session with emphasis on batting against spin bowlers. Tahir, Duminy, Harmer and others were seen working an extra hour in the nets, bowling to their batsmen.

Dale Steyn worked out separately on his injury under the watchful eyes of his trainers. Though he ean a few sprints but seemed a bit uncomfortable.

The Proteas will continue their nets tomorrow morning while the Indian team, which reached Nagpur in batches this afternoon, will do their net practice later tomorrow.